U.S. patent application number 12/808400 was filed with the patent office on 2010-11-04 for locking device of a door.
This patent application is currently assigned to KNORR-BREMSE GMBH. Invention is credited to Reinhold Jarolim, Peter Jetzinger, Christian Pritz.
Application Number | 20100276945 12/808400 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40456162 |
Filed Date | 2010-11-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100276945 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Pritz; Christian ; et
al. |
November 4, 2010 |
LOCKING DEVICE OF A DOOR
Abstract
The invention relates to a locking device for sliding doors, or
for swinging-sliding doors of vehicles, particularly of rail
vehicles, by which a locking pin connected to a door leaf is fixed
in the closed position thereof. The device is characterized in that
in the closed position of the locking pin the same is fixed in this
position by a latch, a guide bar connected to the latch and having
a notch assumes a position in which a locking element of a locking
lever projects into the notch, thus fixing the position of the
guide bar and the locking lever in turn is held in the closed
position by a toggle lever mechanism that is located in the beyond
dead point position.
Inventors: |
Pritz; Christian;
(Amstetten, AT) ; Jetzinger; Peter; (Amstetten,
AT) ; Jarolim; Reinhold; (Weyer, AT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BARNES & THORNBURG LLP
750-17TH STREET NW, SUITE 900
WASHINGTON
DC
20006-4675
US
|
Assignee: |
KNORR-BREMSE GMBH
Modling
AT
|
Family ID: |
40456162 |
Appl. No.: |
12/808400 |
Filed: |
December 19, 2008 |
PCT Filed: |
December 19, 2008 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2008/010932 |
371 Date: |
June 16, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
292/57 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E05B 81/14 20130101;
E05B 83/363 20130101; Y10T 292/1082 20150401; Y10T 292/1047
20150401; Y10T 292/0863 20150401 |
Class at
Publication: |
292/57 |
International
Class: |
E05C 5/00 20060101
E05C005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 21, 2007 |
AT |
A 2112/2007 |
Claims
1. A locking device for sliding doors or hinged sliding doors of
vehicles, particularly of rail vehicles, by means of which a
locking pin connected to a door leaf is fixed in its closed
position, characterized in that the locking pin in the closed
position is fixed in this position by a latch, that a guide bar,
which is connected to the latch and which has a notch, assumes a
position in which a locking element of a locking lever projects
into this notch, thus fixing the position of the guide bar, and
that the locking in turn is held in this closed position by a
toggle lever mechanism, which is situated in its supra-dead-point
position.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to the locking device of a sliding
door or a hinged sliding door, serving to ensure that, even without
the door drive exerting any force, on reaching the locking position
the door remains in its locked position even when widely varying
forces are acting thereon.
[0002] Various such locking devices exist in the state of the art,
most of them being designed and fitted to function automatically
and independently of the actual door drive, which although
necessitating a separate assembly, adjustment and servicing etc.,
makes them independent of the actual door drive.
[0003] Other locking devices act on the door drive and fix it in
the position corresponding to its closed position, but these
systems suffer from the fact that it is necessary to hold the
position in opposition to large forces, which necessitates either
large locking forces or long locking travels, neither alternative
being seen favorably in view of the small space available and the
desire to manage with small forces and thereby small
servomotors.
[0004] The object of the invention, then, is to specify a locking
device of the first type referred to in the introductory part,
which does not have said disadvantages but which is compact, can be
operated with little force and is easy to arrange and adjust.
[0005] According to the invention these objects are achieved in
that the locking is accomplished by means of a locking lever, which
acts upon a drive bar and in turn is moved between its open
position and its locked position by a toggle lever mechanism. The
locking lever makes it possible to manage with a small actuator
travel for the toggle lever mechanism, since the actual locking
travel via the lever can be varied almost arbitrarily, whilst the
toggle lever mechanism in turn leads to a complete isolation of the
force acting between the actuator and the locking element of the
locking lever, so that force has to be applied to the actuator only
whilst adjusting the position of the locking lever, the force
required for this being extremely small.
[0006] The device will be explained in more detail below with
reference to the drawing, without being limited to this. In the
drawing
[0007] FIG. 1 shows the main components of the device according to
the invention,
[0008] FIG. 2 shows the locking unit as a whole,
[0009] FIG. 3 shows the forces acting on the locked unit and
[0010] FIG. 4 shows the kinematic processes involved in locking and
unlocking.
[0011] FIG. 1 shows a purely schematic representation of the main
components of a locking device 1 according to the invention. The
device 1 serves to fix a locking pin 2, which is firmly connected
to a door leaf (not shown), in the closed position of the doors, in
which it assumes the position represented in FIG. 1. This fixing is
accomplished by means of a latch 3, which is capable of pivoting
about a center of rotation of the latch axis 4 fixed to the vehicle
body. The movement of the locking pin 2 in relation to the latch
axis 4 occurs substantially parallel to the axial direction of a
guide bar 5, which is fixed to the vehicle body by means of a
fastening device 6. A part of the guide bar 5 displaceable along
the axis thereof engages in an elongated hole 7 in the latch 3 and
is subject to the force exerted by a spring 8, which endeavors to
move this moving part out of the position shown in FIG. 1 towards
the left, which would bring the latch 4 into its open position.
[0012] The guide bar 5 has a notch 9, which interacts with a
locking element 11 of a locking lever 10. The locking lever 10 is
supported so that it can pivot about a lever axis 12 fixed to the
vehicle body and is subjected by a spring 21 to torque about the
lever axis, so that its locking element is forced out of the notch,
if no further forces or torques are acting thereon.
[0013] On its side remote from the locking element 11 the locking
lever 10 is subject to the action of a toggle lever mechanism 13,
which is supported so that it can rotate about a toggle axis 14
fixed to the vehicle body and which in turn is subject to the
action of a drive bar 15 of an actuator 16. The actuator is capable
of displacing the drive bar 15 in its axial direction and in so
doing is rotatable about an axis 18, running parallel to the axes
4, 12 and 14 and represented in FIG. 2.
[0014] FIG. 2 then shows how these components are together
supported as a unit by a mounting plate 17, so that no adjustment
of any kind is necessary when fitting to the door frame or when
positioning correctly opposite the locking pin 2 of the door leaf
(not shown). The mounting plate 17 may naturally have a shape other
than the plane plate shape and in particular may have bearings
guiding each of the various axes above and below the component
rotatably supported by the axes, so that it is possible to manage
with small, cost-effective bearings. The guide bar 5 is also
intended to be mounted on the mounting plate 17, as indicated by
the reference numeral 6 for the attachment of the guide bar. Also
visible from FIG. 2 is the actuator axis 18 and an emergency
actuating device, which is arranged on the side of the actuator 16
remote from the toggle lever mechanism 13 and which allows the
doors to be manually opened by the passengers or service personnel,
should the drive energy fail.
[0015] FIG. 3 shows a purely schematic representation of the
interaction of the individual parts between the actuator 16 up to
the guide bar 5 under the action of an opening force F acting on
the door leaf, and hence on the locking pin 2, the latch 3 and
therefore the guide bar 5. As a consequence of the inclined end
face of the notch 9 and the corresponding inclined contact face of
the locking element 11, and as a function of the friction between
these faces, the opening force F running in the axis of the guide
bar 5 gives rise to component F.sub.normal, which acts upon the
locking lever 10 substantially in the lever direction, with a
slight bending fraction owing to the inclined profile, which leads
to a corresponding loading of the bearing of the lever axis 12 and
to an extremely low force component perpendicular to the force F
introduced to the toggle lever mechanism 13. The virtually
friction-free roller 20 of the toggle lever mechanism 13 means that
only those forces can be transmitted, which run in the line between
the point of contact of the roller 20 with the locking lever 10 and
the toggle axis 14. Since this direction runs perpendicular to the
direction of the drive bar 15, however, the force FA transmitted to
the drive 16 by the locking device 1 according to the invention is
equal to zero.
[0016] FIG. 4 shows the kinematic sequence of a locking-unlocking
process from top to bottom. FIG. 4a shows the locking mechanism 1
in its open position: the locking pin 2 moves in the direction of
the arrow V into the open area of the latch 3 and, as can be seen
from FIG. 4a in conjunction with FIG. 4b, draws the moveable part
of the guide bar 5 into the position shown in FIG. 4b against the
force of the spring 8 at the end of the movement of the locking pin
2. This movement of the guide bar 5 brings the notch 9 into the
area of the locking element 11, and the locking lever 10, against
the force of the lever spring 21, is pressed downwards by the
toggle lever mechanism 13, which is then activated, until the
position shown in FIG. 4b is reached with the locking element 11 in
the notch 9. In this position the static forces described in FIG. 3
occur and the locking device 1 locks the locking pin 2 without the
actuator 16 exerting any force.
[0017] To release the locking pin 2 and the door leaf connected
thereto, the actuator is first activated so that it swivels the
toggle lever mechanism 13 about the toggle axis 14 into the
position shown in FIG. 4c, thereby bringing the locking lever 10,
under the action of its lever spring 21, into the upper position,
in which the locking element 11 leaves the notch 9 and therefore
releases the guide bar 5, which is now moved under the action of
the spring 8 (towards the left of the figure), so that the latch 3
releases the locking pin 2 and the latter can open with the door
leaf in the direction of the arrow V'.
[0018] The invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiment
shown, but can be modified in various ways. Thus instead of the
solenoid-based actuator 16 shown another actuator may be provided,
the locking element 11 and the notch 9 need not take the form shown
but may be designed differently, the bearing and the proportions of
the locking lever 10 selected need not be as shown and the guide
bar 5 may also be differently configured. The important thing is
that in the locked position the toggle lever mechanism 13, in the
manner typical of such mechanisms, is situated in a
supra-dead-point position, in which the force acting on it via the
roller 20 does not apply any torque to it in an opening direction.
In the light of the invention the person skilled in the art of
kinematics and door locking devices will be easily capable of
defining and determining this characteristic, typical of toggle
lever mechanisms.
[0019] In the case of two-leaf doors, either the two door leaves
are kinematically connected to one another, so that it is
sufficient to provide one locking pin 2 for both door leaves, or,
if single operation of the door leaves is required, one such
locking device 1 is to be provided for each of the two door leaves.
In this case the two devices may naturally be arranged on a common
mounting plate, thereby facilitating installation yet further. As
can readily be seen from the description and the drawing, the
locking mechanism according to the invention may be combined with
all types of door drives, it merely being necessary to co-ordinate
its activation with that of the door drive by way of the door
electronics.
* * * * *